Sunday - October 14

Bike

30m

7.50 miles

15.00 Mi/hr

7:15 AM
Exercise bike in the hotel fitness center.
Today's plan called for a 30 minute Z1/Z2 bike ride, so for one of the first times since I started the training plan... I actually followed the plan to the "t".

Swim

40m

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3:30 PM
Played in the hotel swimming pool. The pool is kidney-shaped, and I needed to remove the little rope divider between the shallow and deep ends.
However, did nothing but freestyle and freestyle drills... In other words, I just said no to the breast stroke! First time in YEARS!
I came up with a "wicked" water treading drill that does the "sculling" with the arms, as recommended by my swimming instructor, and also allows me to practice my freestyle kick, rather than doing the usual water-treading kick.

Saturday - October 13

Well, the "family reunion" was FANTASTIC! My sister brought her youngest son (16) with her (he looks almost identical to how my dad looked when he was that age).

We all laughed a lot, everyone caught up on a lot, and the ice has most definitely been broken. My stepmother and I chatted a bit when we were able to catch some time alone and both of us are SO relieved that this huge step has been accomplished. As she said, "I don't really think either of them remembers WHY they had a falling out".

So, mission accomplished... I guess I get a couple of karma points for being the facilitator - LOL!================Today is a day of rest for me. I fly to Milwaukee around noon, and will be there until late next Thursday.

I am going in this weekend because my dad and stepmom live in the metro area, so I will be visiting with them today and tomorrow, and then heading to the "work hotel" tomorrow afternoon.Even more exciting is that my sister will be joining us. Now, the exciting thing about this is that she and my dad have not seen each other in 15 years, and Sis has never met our stepmother... Sis and dad had a falling out many years ago and both are stubborn enough that neither initiated a visit (they live 70 miles apart...). So, over the past year, my sister has called Dad for father's day, and they talked about possibly getting together.... "someday". Well, with big sis coming into town, I suggested to my sister that we ALL get together, and she agreed. Dad was thrilled ... I am to call my sister when my plane touches down so that she can drive over. (I plan to call her before my plane leaves to tell her when the departure time so that she can perhaps start driving BEFORE my plane lands in MKE).

My sister has four kids 15-16-16-20, whom our dad barely knows... Life is just too short to hold a grudge. But, I am very proud of both of them that we will FINALLY all be getting together...

As they say, our family puts the FUN in dysfunctional... but, honestly, whose family doesn't :)We wouldn't be human if we didn't have personality flaws... it would be awfully boring, otherwise!

Friday - October 12

I did a nice brick workout tonight: spinning class followed by TEAMMy HR monitor indicates that I burned over 1000 calories.My body LOVED it!!!

=====I am still marveling at the revelation that occurred during swimming lessons last night. Arms-only, pull-buoy, I was able to swim "freestyle" almost effortlessly. I naturally rotated my body with each stroke, arms strong and well positioned, bilateral breathing (not gasping for air), head in great position.Sharon has a lot of kicking drills to do, but knowing that my arms and torso are doing the right thing was incredibly encouraging!

Tonight is TEAM. I am working from home today so... if I do feel totally pumped up as the day goes on, I may be doing the brick that I missed last week due to the customer visit.

Thursday - October 11

Swim

30m

600.00 meters

05m /100 meters

Swimming Lessons.
Okay, have I mentioned how much I value my swimming lessons?
Well, I learned something new today. Whenever I try to swim freestyle, I totally suck wind. Tonight, our last drill involved the pull-buoy. Now, I have never used one of these in my life. So, arms-only, I was at the other end of the pool before the other gal in my class was even 1/3 of the way down the lane. Now, here's the "kicker"... when we do kicking drills, or actually swim freestyle, she is typically at the end of the lane, and I am only 1/2 way down.
So... my kick HURTS me... slows me WAY down.
My goal this week is to work on my kick, and the coach gave us a handful of kicking drills.

Wednesday - October 10

This is a phenomenal advance for me... I haven't been able to run at a sub 10 m/m pace in more than 20 years... not bad for someone who will be 45 in a few months!

Sport

Yoga

10m

My shoulders have been kind of achy these past few days because of my upper-body weight lifting and practicing the freestyle. So today, rather than swim over lunch, I am going to give my shoulders a rest so that they will be fresher for tomorrow.

Tonight will be TEAM Weight Loss at the gym. I was excited by the fact that I have signed up to start running, again, with the LTF Running Club. I don't believe that I will start running with them until the beginning of November because I want to continue to build up mileage the more gentle way - on the treadmill, before I hit the hard asphalt/concrete with the club.

Monday - October 8

Run

59m

3.60 miles

16m 23s /Mi

TEAM

Swim

22m

800.00 meters

02m 45s /100 meters

Breast stroke warmup and cooldown.
Freestyle arms with flippers, and then became brave and got rid of the fins. Was even able to practice bilateral breathing.
And, I am getting the hang of the flip turns - no pool water was snorted this time around